Big cheese rules on feta

Homer described how to make feta in the Odyssey. Aristotle delighted in its briny, crumbly texture.

For Greeks, the biggest cheese-eaters in Europe, feta is the heart and soul of Hellenic cuisine, and yesterday the EU's highest court took a decisive step to ensure it stays that way.

Greece has long proclaimed that to merit the exclusive name "feta", the cheese must be made in the country from unpasteurised sheep's milk, or a mixture of sheep's milk with goat's milk, and then curdled with rennet.

The legal adviser to the European court of justice, the EU's highest court, has now reasserted feta's exclusivity, arguing that Denmark and Germany have no right to call their versions feta.

The Danes and Germans make their cheese from pas­teurised cow's milk. The Danes, who have marketed their "feta" since 1963, and the Germans, who have done the same since 1985, backed by France, have been trying to overturn the European commission's 1996 decision to give the Greek cheese the same protection as parma ham.

The court's advocate general, Damaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, advised that feta was not a generic name and should be seen as a traditional name deserving protection throughout the EU's 25 member countries.

The court of justice, which will issue the final ruling this year, follows his advice in about 80% of cases.

He said that feta's quality derived from the geographical surroundings where it is made, with its colour, texture, flavour and composition depending on natural environment, culture and traditional production methods.

Feta is still made by Greek shepherds and packed in barrels filled with whey or brine.

But there may yet be a sting in the tail for Greeks savouring victory. Bulgarians and Romanians, due to join the EU in 2007, regard feta as their own and could mount their own legal action.